"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" ~ Mary Oliver

cold weather noodles . . .

by mulberryshoots

It’s been frigid here and elsewhere (so many minus degrees below zero where M. lives in Minneapolis that they closed the schools!) This morning, I straightened out the books and magazines on my small Chinese table and came upon the “healthy” recipes that Bon Appetit was promoting in its January issue.

Leafing through, there was a teriyaki sauce recipe from a restaurant called “Canal House.” Three simple ingredients of the same measure:

1 cup packed light brown sugar;

1 cup mirin (Japanese rice wine); and

1 cup Ohsawa soy sauce (or low-sodium soy sauce):

simmered until the sugar dissolved and then cooked at very low heat for 40 minutes until the sauce thickened slightly. Good in the fridge for a month, the recipe said.

I paused midway through the thickening of the teriyaki sauce and tasted it with the tip of my spoon. The flavor was so rich and delectable that I imagined right away using a dollop of it to flavor fresh shitake mushrooms, softened in a pan; or glazing a piece of salmon or chicken thighs on the Le Creuset “Soleil” grill pans my daughters and I received as Christmas gifts from Santa (that’s me!)

So here’s the recipe for cold weather noodles I made for supper tonight:

1. Boil fresh Chinese wide egg noodles, drain and rinse with cold water, shaking out excess water. Defrosted a frozen pack of noodles tightly zipped in a plastic bag set in warm tap water and used two coils worth of noodles (see top photo.)

2. De-rib some lacinato kale and chop the leaves into two inch diagonal pieces.

3. Chop up some napa cabbage including leaves (same diagonal slice.)

4. Saute 2 cloves of garlic in a pan, add greens above and take off the heat when just wilted. Drain and set aside.

kale and napa cabbage

5. Combine 1/2 pound of fresh ground pork with scallions, ginger, and brown in a saucepan, adding a little teriyaki sauce when pork is browned.

cooked pork with garlic, kale and cabbage

6. Make a dashi broth in a sauce pan (either instant powder or with kombu and bonito flakes); add browned pork, cooked greens and stir. Cook gently for soup flavors to combine. To taste, add a spoonful of teriyaki sauce to the broth.

Thanks, Susan! It was fun to make today as I continue my quest to cook nourishing and delicious dishes using vegetables and groceries that I still have in the fridge and freezer from the holidays. I have to give credit though, to Bon Appetit and their providing the Canal House teriyaki recipe. If you cook asian at all, it’s worth making the 3 ingredient teriyaki ambrosia that I added to the pork and to the broth at the end. It has such depth of flavor and surprisingly, is not SALTY. Very satisfying to eat so well from the cupboard!

ralph waldo emerson:

“Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house, a world; and beyond its world a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you: build, therefore, your own world.”

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

morning glories

Every year we plant "heavenly blue" morning glory seedlings in front of the barn. By the Fall, their brilliant blooms create an evanescent blanket of blue, viewed from our kitchen window on foggy mornings in late October and November.
Each flower blooms in the morning and fades at night, a reminder to live each day as it opens and closes.